


Hydrophobia

by CaptainSwank



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Animal Death, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-03
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:15:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22539196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainSwank/pseuds/CaptainSwank
Summary: Their Goddess is a cruel one, and shows Felix no mercy. Does he have any to spare for the Boar Prince?A brief and brutal character study.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & Felix Hugo Fraldarius
Kudos: 11





	Hydrophobia

**Author's Note:**

> Again, please note the warning for animal death. The human death is Glenn's. Neither is graphic nor explicit.
> 
> This is not a happy story.

Felix fells his opponent with his bloody blade, and even before the meat of the man before him thuds to the ground he is compelled to turn and look at the thing deep in the field of battle. His attention was caught by the sound it made: harsh, feral, animalistic. It seems to bounce and echo inside his skull as he watches the beast who would be king slash and tear at the soldiers that surround it. He moves towards his liege lord to whom he has sworn a sacred oath to protect, but the field is so thick with corpses that his approach is slowed. He must wield his weapon to defend the thing, but no axe nor blade nor lance seem to be capable of penetrating its brutal defense. He knows he has a duty to save this boar with his friend’s mangled face.

He wonders if he’s too much of a coward to do it.

***

Felix wakes one morning pinned to his bed by the strength of the feeling of wrongness. 

Every morning for as long as he can remember there’s been a presence beside him he can sense. Whenever the cold dawn light crawled into his rooms to pry open his eyes it had always been accompanied by soft breathing beside him, or a gentle snuffling, or a hot tongue on his nose, cheek, or hand. But this morning it’s all too still; the cold has found him left alone. He thinks that maybe his senses are a little fuzzy, fresh as they are from their slumber, so he leans over his bed to look beside it. Nothing’s there, and he feels his heart seize a little. Glenn would no doubt chastise him for his constant worry — there must be an easy explanation for Argos’ absence. Perhaps the maid is feeding him at a different time than usual, and he is simply in the kitchens enjoying himself. Perhaps Sylvain, Ingrid, and Dimitri have come over early, and are playing with him outside. Felix lets loose a little sniffle, but rallies as he rises from his bed to grab his warm coat. He’s sure everything is fine. 

But as he reaches his door he hesitates as he hears a sound from outside his window: harsh, feral, and animalistic.

***

Felix rides east with the feeling of a warm hand holding his heart tight in its palm. Today the sharp Faerghus sun has deigned to shine brightly upon them all, and while he can see his hot breath in front of him as he chats with the boys beside him, the freezing wind can’t touch him. He’s finally free from the cold confines of the castle, stuck inside and useless where his considerable skills could not be tested. Perhaps if the lethal edge of his blade could slice cleanly through the thick gray gloom within the castle walls, could cut away the grief in his mother’s heart, could cleave in twain the towering wall separating him from his father. But his sword was forged to destroy men, and this rebellion will provide him bodies against which to test his skill and his steel. 

Yes, the electricity that courses through his body and his mind sparks hot and he knows that out here, he can finally be what he was made for. That out here in the snow and away from everything he’s left behind him in his father’s castle he can finally set to work. And as he tunes back in to the effervescent nonsense that seems to constantly stream from between Sylvain’s busy lips, he turns to see his Prince respond with a faint and subtle smile. It must be the wind that burns Felix’s eyes all tight and dry when he sees such a look on Dimitri’s face. To be back at his highness’ side after being without him for so long feels like having a new sword in his hand: its weight and balance unfamiliar, but the presence of its dangerous edge almost comforting in his grip. 

Defeating these upstart lords and quelling their would-be rebellion would be a simple enough task for Felix and his men alone, he was sure. To have Sylvain, Ingrid, and the Prince along would make for a short and simple engagement. He knows it in his warrior soul as they approach the rebel base of operations, and this knowledge propels him forward as he descends from his mount and draws his hungry sword. It will all be over soon.

As he slashes and slaughters, his confidence in his own training and preparation grows, but as he parries blows and responds with his own in kind, something cuts through his iron concentration. It is a sound — harsh, feral, animalistic. Something so inhuman and raw fractures his focus, causes him to draw up his guard and cast about the bloody battlefield for its source. A short distance to his left and the sound’s source is soon identified. 

His mind and his heart and his guts know that it’s a man standing there, hacking and sawing into the soldiers before him. It stands on two legs, its pink skin splashed with sweat and filth and blood, its golden hair plastered to its face. And he can see that it is the face of a man, though every instinct in his trembling body tells him different. Could a man truly possess those eyes, burning with such hatred and lust for death? Could its teeth be those of the Dimitri of his youth? Were they always so sharp and white and fearsome? Could a man laugh with such profound joy, such utter delight at this destruction, this massacre of human life? 

Neither his mind nor the Goddess provide him with answers, and he sees a militiaman advance upon him. In the moment that he knows it is too late to raise his own blade, a stray thought slices into him: Mother was right, he should have bid Father farewell before he rode away from Fraldarius territory. But death does not reach him because Dimitri does first, and he separates his assailant’s head from his shoulders.

As it falls to the field with a thud Felix is struck with the memory of the pride his father clung to when they found out the price of protecting the heir to the Faerghus throne was his brother. 

Dimitri laughs and laughs and laughs.

***

Felix comes to Dimitri’s bedside every day. He won’t go to his father and he can’t go to his brother, so he sits near the bed of the boy whose life he got to keep in exchange for Glenn’s. He watches Dimitri’s empty eyes stare endlessly into the distance and he wonders if his friend will ever come back from wherever it is he’s gone. 

On one bright winter’s day, he does.

“Glenn?” Dimitri says, reaching a pale and trembling hand out towards Felix’s face. 

Felix makes a sound that is harsh, feral, and animalistic, and he doesn’t return to Dimitri’s bedside for a very, very long time.

***

Glenn and his father are inside the castle having a very important meeting with the King and some other very important lords, and Felix has been banished to the grounds outside. He doesn’t really mind all that much, because Dimitri has come over to play again. It can be kind of boring around the castle on his own, and Glenn’s always too busy to play with him these days, and is really mean when he does. Felix hates him _so_ much sometimes, even though he’d never say it. But today Dimitri’s here with him and he wants to go exploring. Felix knows they’re not allowed to go out into the woods around the castle but Dimitri isn’t scared of the forest or Felix’s dad and he grabs Felix by the hand to pull him forward. Felix _is_ really scared of the forest _and_ his dad and wants to go home before the tears welling up in his eyes start to fall and make Dimitri sad. But Dimitri promises he’ll protect Felix, and he grasps his hand even tighter.

Even though springtime has just arrived in Faerghus, the deeper they go into the forest the darker and colder it seems to get. Felix goes from clutching Dimitri’s hand tight to holding on to his whole arm, pressing his body close to his friend’s. He’s shaking a bit and Dimitri stops. Felix doesn’t want to make him worried or angry for holding him back but then he realizes there’s another reason for Dimitri to pause.

There’s a noise, and it’s scary, and wild, and it sounds like it came from an animal.

Dimitri puts his hand on the little sword he is already permitted to carry and Felix shrinks back in terror. Out of the shadows of a tall tree limps a wolf that looks huge to their tiny bodies, as gaunt as it is. There’s something wrong about its eyes, Felix thinks, as Dimitri bravely draws his weapon. 

“Don’t worry, Felix,” he says. “I told you I’d protect you.” That’s when the wolf lunges, and Dimitri attacks. Felix has his eyes shut to most of it, and puts his hands over his ears so he can’t hear the yelps of the animal and his friend. Soon enough Dimitri is grabbing his hand and pulling him away, back towards the castle, commanding him to _run, fast_. Felix doesn’t look back as he grips Dimitri’s hand, tears streaming down his face while his lungs and his eyes burn. They don’t stop until they get to the castle and run inside its spacious stables. They collapse into the soft hay on the ground and Felix falls into Dimitri’s waiting arms.

He buries his face in Dimitri’s chest and cries out all the tears that he has. When he finally looks up, Dimitri’s strong little hands are there to clumsily wipe away his tears. When he sees his friend’s gentle, beautiful smile, it’s really hard not to smile back at him. Dimitri moves to brush Felix’s hair out of his eyes and tuck it behind his ears. It’s getting long, just like Dimitri’s. 

Felix trembles in Dimitri’s arms as he holds him tight for a very, very long time.

***

Felix finds Argos out in the courtyard with Glenn. It’s clear to him right away how very sick his dog is. Argos is stumbling around, like he’s hurt his back legs. There’s something wrong with the way he’s looking at Glenn, and how he didn’t come running to greet Felix, tail wagging and mouth open like he’s smiling for him, when he appeared. And there’s some weird white foam all around his mouth.

Glenn doesn’t turn to face Felix, but holds one hand out to stop him where he stands. 

“Go back inside, Felix,” Glenn says, as steadily as he’s able. “Don’t worry, kiddo. I’ve got this.” Argos growls harsh and feral, in a way that reminds Felix that while the dog is his friend and his protector, it’s fundamentally and at its core an animal. “Everything is going to be okay,” Glenn promises. 

“Glenn?” Felix asks. “Help him,” he pleads, sure that his brave, strong, infuriating brother can fix this. 

“I’m gonna,” Glenn says to him, another promise. “Argos is in pain, and I’m gonna help him.” 

“How?” Felix asks, like he doesn’t know. 

“Felix,” Glenn says, quietly, as the dog growls and staggers. “Sometimes doing the right thing, like a knight would, is really hard, and it hurts.” Felix backs away from the dog and his brother. “But I’m gonna make sure Argos doesn’t hurt anymore, and that nobody else can get hurt because of him.” 

Glenn reaches for his weapon and Felix turns around, falls to his knees. He covers his ears when he hears the sword being drawn from its scabbard. 

***

Felix grips the hilt of his sword tight and watches the dismemberment and destruction unfold in front of him. He feels sick deep in his guts as the animal before him rips and tears bodies into wet, red pieces. He can’t recognize this thing in front of him, with its bloodstained lips and coal black soul. He doesn’t know who this monster is, that feeds on sin and has replaced his oldest, dearest friend. This beast that would pluck out its own eye as penance, to quiet the ghouls that haunt it nightly. 

Somehow it’s just the two of them awash in a sea of Imperial red. Felix always insists on striding into battle without a battalion, and none of their other former classmates are near enough to be seen. Dimitri isn’t facing him; probably doesn’t even sense his presence, so absorbed is he in his slaughter. Felix raises his sword, alone — no one else here to protect him from his duty, no one here to shield him from his own cowardice, no one here to help him save his would-be King. At the last moment, Dimitri turns, and Felix is pierced by the glare of his single eye. 

He brings his sword down.

It slices through the man about to run the Boar Prince through, and he falls.

Felix slowly raises his head and sees Dimitri’s terrible smile, and it is harsh, and animalistic, and feral.


End file.
